Prince William shown wedding path

The pressure on Prince William to pop the question to Kate Middleton is growing. Captain Nicholas van Cutsem, a close friend, has become engaged to Alice Hadden-Paton, whose actor brother Harry appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest in the West End last year.

Tim Walker

9:58PM GMT 12 Jan 2009

Nicholas, 31, who is a Life Guard in the Household Cavalry, proposed to Alice, 25, an events manager, in Cornwall after only one and a half years together.

"We will marry this year as Nicholas is due to go out to Afghanistan at the end of 2009," Alice tells me. Along with William, Alice's father, Nigel Hadden-Paton, who co-owns a black truffle business, was caught off guard by the news. The former army officer, who served for a time in the Blues and Royals – the same regiment as Harry – says: "I've been in a cold sweat ever since they told me. I wasn't planning a wedding in 2009, but we'll manage."